


Shinseiki Muv Luv: Shirogane Side Redux

by frag2k13



Series: Shinseiki Muv Luv [2]
Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion, マブラヴ | Muv-Luv
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-04 09:52:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3063401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frag2k13/pseuds/frag2k13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Day, Humanities last stand against the BETA using experimental weapons, for most it heralded the beginning of the end, but for one it saw them tossed into a new world.  Now facing threats from mysterious beings known as Angels and a shadowy organisation with unknow goals Takeru must muster every last skill he has learned over the three years in the UN to protect this new world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue - Operation Sadogashima

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: The prologue for the story, again I know nothing about TDA so this is my Operation Sadogashima just before the main Operation.  
> Disclaimer: ML/Evangelion not owned by me.

What is reality? What is fate? These are two concepts that people have asked questions about since the time of gods, to many reality is fixed but subjective ask an optimist and he will say It’s good, ask a pessimist and he will say it’s bad, and fate, some claim fate is dictated by the gods that your path is written in stone, and to others it is each persons to command. But for the lucky or unlucky some people’s reality are not fixed, two realities that should never have met have, but their fates are not bound by gods, but by each other’s.

 

**Concept Assault Fleet – Off the coast of Sadogashima – The Day -15 hours**

It was cold, the winter chill continued and out in the ocean even more so, the fortified suits helped but the face still took the brunt of the wet chill leaving frosty condensation coating his face, Takeru paced the deck of the UN 11th Pacific army TSF mothership ‘Over the Rainbow’ his breath curling in wisps of spectral white.

The sound of waves beating against the hull of the ship and personnel rushing about to finalise the checks of the Yokohama TSFs for the first strike attack of Operation Babylon, this was the last moment should this attack be successful the operation would go down.

Looking up into the sky Takeru felt he could see the glint of the hulls but knew he couldn’t, the fact that people were safe up there, Kasumi too was now on her way to a safe haven, a brief bout of melancholy filled him, this operation was to him like a swan song, like the whole population had just given up on the planet, he wouldn’t, at least not until the end.

“Why didn’t you use it Meiya-san?” Sakaki asked behind him.

Turning around he could see the squad and his second in command arguing or confronting Meiya, walking over to them they quickly saluted stopping further confrontation.

“What’s going on?” Takeru asked.

“I was asking why the Takamikazuchi wasn’t being used.” Sakaki replied rubbing her arms subconsciously.

“Well you have a point, but the unit has almost a 100% increase in overall stats over out Type-94’s, the power boost would cause problems with formations not to mention I don’t think you’ve trained in it have you?” Takeru faced Meiya who nodded. “So worry not about what could be, we have only now.”

“ _All Eishi report to briefing room, I repeat all Eishi report to briefing room.”_ The operations commander’s voice spoke over the tannoy.

“You heard the commander, let’s move.” Takeru barked.

**1 Hour Later**

With the briefing finalising the plan the group stood around their TSFs, the final checks done and deployment in a few minutes, the tension and excitement filled the squad for their first sortie against humanities foe.

The plan was simple, a full on assault from all sides to suppress the Lux and Magnus Lux BETA before the G-bombs were to be deployed, a sweeper mission was to finish up the survivors around the island.

“Ok squad fall in.” Takeru called before the girls stood to attention in front of their leader. “Today, humanity hedges its bets, today humanity survives, Operation Babylon, our great big ‘fuck you’ to these alien scum.”

Takeru stopped to look at each girl, friends and comrades all, it was a fact he would fight and die for these girls, his reason to fight was them and humanity itself.

“I am proud to have known you all, am proud to fight alongside you all, we have been through much together these 3 years, good and bad, we have endured much for this day, but today we face something new for us, you could say virgin territory.” Takeru smirked earning slight blushes from the squad. “I know you will not fail, the civilians the world over are counting on us, so gather your spirit, harden your courage let’s shake the very foundations of heaven with our resolve, 207 platoon prepare to deploy.”

A firm salute was the reply as the squad headed for their respective units, setting himself into the cockpit he checked the seat first, finding it as usual set for him he ran through his pre-flight checks, laser warning, radar, thrusters, aiming assist, life support and eject systems all operational, a quick comms check saw small images of the squad in real time running their own checks.

The sound of hydraulic pistons moving sounded around the spacious interior of the mothership as the units made their way to the lifts, as his unit cleared the artificial horizon their standing on deck, dozens of TSFs setting up on the launcher catapults.

The tension was beginning to fill his cockpit, locking his unit into the launchers he began revving the engines, his HUD displaying a countdown for 10 seconds, around the edges of the large mothership lining the launchers red lights flashed except the end two, the countdown ended and the final lights lit signalling a launch, ‘Operation commence’ appeared on his HUD and putting his thrusters into full he felt the assist kick in and forces pushing 14G’s as his unit made for the beach.

The sound of heavy cannon fire resounded as the Battleships began a concentrated assault beyond the beach, as his unit boosted towards the beach friendly contacts appeared from the ocean, large numbers of A-6’s rising from the waves and firing their 36mm’s at the BETA forces to clear a landing zone.

Seeing the slow moving heavily armoured and armed units pushing the BETA back, Takeru and Ayamine landed first before she moved forward to her position in the formation, acting as beach master Takeru allowed the Naval forces to clear the area while he signalled in the rest of his squad.

Meiya and Class Rep turned up next before Tama and Mikoto followed, finishing directing the Yokohama forces he moved to his squad.

“Ok Thor’s hammer, let’s do this, head to sector C6.” Takeru called.

The 207 moved into the formation, Meiya and Ayamine in front, Class Rep behind them followed by Takeru and Mikoto supported by Tama. As the squad moved Takeru felt his heart beating faster and a cold sweat under his suit, his HUD flashing up dangerous warning that he was reaching dangerous levels.

Around him the corpses of Destroyer and Grappler class amongst a sea of red Tank class, he gritted his teeth willing the fear to subside, he wouldn’t have a repeat of that first November, here it would be fatal.

As his unit continued to their initial operation area his eyes scanned the battle damage, the naval forces continued a blanket fire shooting ahead of the TSFs, around them more BETA dead now mixed with downed units, scurrying around like spiders the smaller Warrior and Solider class, spotting the larger of the two Takeru felt fear welling up again.

‘What is wrong with me?’ He thought seeing blackness around the edge of his vision.

Shaking his head he reached to set the combat hypnosis off but refrained, he needed his wits, swallowing the building saliva he focused on his task of commanding his unit and keeping the area open for post G-bomb operations.

**Operation Sadogashima - +1 hour – Sector C6**

The defence was not going to plan, the initial attack had been highly successful but the BETA had counter-attacked hard, across the island casualties were rising fast and already 23% of the total forces were dead.

Ahead of him a smouldering TSF of Sakaki moved clunkily, missing an arm and part of its one leg from a swarm of Tank class that had popped out a hidden gate now sealed, for now Meiya and Mikoto were moving the heaps of Destroyer and Grappler corpses into a choke point overlapping them to increase their durability while Tama provided over watch.

“Lt Sakaki, I order you to return to the mothership.”

“With all due respect sir, shove you order up your firm ass.” Sakaki shot back at her squad leader.

“Don’t copy my thing.” Ayamine added her face looking sour.

“Sakaki, how would you know Takeru’s ass?” Meiya pouted and glared.

“Oh, I got a good grip last week during the CQC fight.” Sakaki smirked back. “I wondered what I missed out on.”

“I can only imagine.” Tama chipped in with a cat like grin.

“I heard.” Ayamine grinned earning an indignant huff from the sniper.

“Hell, even I heard.” Takeru chuckled earning a blush from the woman. “So you refuse?”

Sakaki nodded at the question. “Yes sir, to be honest my TSF won’t survive the trip. Asking me to go is asking for my death, and I won’t die running, I will die fighting.”

Takeru looked at the HUD bringing up Sakaki’s TSF stats, the flashing red over half the unit told him how bad it’s condition was, a war inside himself over the issue, her unit was potentially more dangerous to the squad over the enemy, but extra firepower was needed and sending her back was a death sentence.

“Fuck! Ok, Sakaki take my position I will be up front.” Takeru cursed before switching to the fleet channel. “This is Lt Shirogane of the 207 sector C6, I need a full complement of weapons, ammo and fuel at my position now, corridor is still open, over.”

“Understood Lt, CG-65 is in your operation area and will assist, out.”

The sound of the alarm blaring caused a shudder, BETA had been detected and low on ammo and equipment it would be a brutal fight, moving to the front centre he found himself comfortable wielding a shield and sword combo.

The sounds of impacts behind him told that the crates had arrive, everyone quickly moved to rearm and refuel as the hostiles began showing up on the radar.

“Fuck, CG-65 we need all available units on our position now, we got 10,000+ BETA heading our way target sector C7, over.” Takeru spoke urgently to the fleet.

“Understood Lt, all available TSF are being diverted to your location, fire-support is active, Lt, G-bomb activation underway, T-minus 10 minutes, please suppress all laser class, over.”

Several blips appeared from their north and west signalling reinforcements though few in number, more artillery rained down with Lux classes firing at the shells causing heavy metals to fall like volcanic ash.

“Ok squad, Tama priorities laser classes, Mikoto long range support, Sakaki cover them, Meiya, Ayamine with me.”

“Understood.” Came the squads reply.

With the arrival of the other TSFs the defence of the western assault passage began in earnest as 8 more TSFs filled in the formation gaps, Type-77s and F-15’s added their capabilities to the defence of the makeshift chokepoint as Destroyers slammed into the flesh barricade one hitting it wrong and barrelling over the wall, a pair of Type-77s filled it’s soft underbelly with 36mm rounds.

A crimson wave rose over the wall like a flood of blood as Tank classes used their progenous jumping abilities to scale the narrow opening, one latching onto another Type-77 that began flailing in panic.

“CG-65, we need fire on my position we are up to our necks in Tanks.” Takeru switched back to the unit. “All units stay calm and cover each other, if you have grapes give these bastards a whiff.”

The three remaining F-15s moved up the shotgun type blasts blowing big holes in the Tank class formation in a shower of entrails that now resembled a large tidal wave and others began firing into the horde with their rifles, the sound of shells hitting just east of the wall saw more BETA tossed and fountains of blood sprayed into the air as the laser class found it difficult to fire in the cloying heavy metal filled air.

The sound of a shriek followed by a wet fleshy sound filled the channel as one of the 77s went down under a carpet of red, a shotgun blast of metal balls cleared the TSF but the hole in its chest cavity told of the fate of its pilot.

“Takeru we’re getting overrun.” Meiya spoke as she cleaved another grappler that had manoeuvred through the gap. “We need to fall back.”

“Negative, we must hold the bombs are here in 2 minutes.” Takeru made the call batting another Tank off his hull and shield slamming a pair of Tanks into a freed Destroyer.

Checking his radar Takeru noticed 2 of his team had gone dark Tama and Mikoto, the reading hadn’t even gone up in to warnings, a horde of BETA showing in their last known positions, more of the newly linked group had disappeared too with them down to 7 TSFs.

“We got lasers on the ridge.” An American pilot called out his F-15 turned and fired at the overlooking creatures.

“All units engage the laser class.” Takeru boosted his unit into the throng of alien flesh and pushed towards the deeply rooted AA monsters, his sword slashing at the Grappler trying to flank him as a Fort class tried to box him in.

The roar of the bombs arrival was trumped by the detonations of several explosions, his HUD flashing in warning as the hardened vehicle took the EMP but his HUD showed his squads IFF blinking out, they had been higher up and with less cover, the mysterious energy wave that followed the initial blast was seen sweeping towards him.

“Ladies, it’s been my honour.” Takeru closed his eyes as the wave hit his unit.


	2. A New World, a New War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So the revised first chapter, over 5000 words longer, a more detailed chapter overall, interactions are different from the old version and Takeru reacts differently, but remember he is a 21/22 year old in the body of a 14 year old, his attitude will be seen as odd to many.
> 
> This story will again mix elements from the Manga, anime and reboot along with the games, Asuka will be closer to her Reboot version, Mana will be in this and the three extra bridge officers too will play a major part.
> 
> Sorry about the format too on this chapter not sure what happened.
> 
> Disclaimer: Again neither Muv Luv or Evangelion owned by me.

**Unknown Town**

Shirogane was not one to panic, when he woke up on that fateful day in October 2001 and found a girl in his bed it was not a panicked reaction he had to finding Meiya staring at him though he did when Sumika went Phantom on him, nor when he found himself in that other world where the town was rubble and battle mecha littered the town like a child’s bedroom, quiet the opposite there, so staring at a pay phone when his last images were in the cockpit of a TSF fighting during Operation Sadogashima it was not panic he felt but annoyance, that Fort class wasn’t going to kill itself.

Taking stock of the situation the first thing he noticed was the shorter line of sight he had, a quick glancing measurement told him he was about a foot shorter than he was only a few minutes ago though his physique was still well toned and muscular, the second issue was instead of the polymer based fortified suit in black and blue that hugged his body and dampened G-forces, he was now in a middle school uniform, a white shirt with navy T-shirt and black trousers and white trainers.

He didn't recognise the town either, the payphone he stood by still clutching the handset stood at the bottom of some stairs leading to a train station platform, two parked trains sat eerily on the tracks no one around to commute in them, the town was abandoned and looking at the lack of natural reclamation it was very recent.

Lifting the headset to his ear the automated message spoke of a lockdown and suggested unhelpfully to make his way to a shelter, the lack of directions on either the road signs or the recorded message made him wonder how a lost person would ever find one, sighing in annoyance he hung up the phone the sound of change pouring back into the coin return basket saw him take the coins with no hint of guilt.

“Ok, so another world.” Takeru spoke to himself not really a question so much a statement.

His mind running through scenarios, the small holdall at his feet and picture sitting on the phone book told him someone had been where he was at some point, most likely been there until his arrival, if it was as he suspected he didn't envy them, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes a brief moment to mourn his squad, Tama, Sakaki, Ayamine, Mikoto and Meiya.

Each ones IFF had vanished within short order in that last defensive action, whoever the poor sap was that had replaced him and the current theory was the one he was going with had most likely just wound up in the cockpit of a TSF in the middle of a battle and a BETA orgy.

Looking in the reflective plastic on the phones wind-breakers he noticed he appeared younger too, no longer the 21 year old 2nd Lieutenant of the 11th Pacific UN armies 207 tactical armoured platoon he looked closer to what he did in middle school, more annoyance entered his face, but he wasn't squad leader of the 207 because the girls all had things for him, no he had earned it when he gave up pining for his old world and dived into that hell scape crap sack BETA infested world, when he had taken all the training seriously.

Grabbing the bag at his feet he looked inside at its contents, a few changes of clothing and a SDAT player, taking it out he turned the device on the song 'you are the only one' titled track 25 began playing somewhere in the middle suggesting it had been listened too before ending up in the bag, fast forwarding to the next track 'blue legend' began its intro, shutting it off and placing it back in the bag he noticed a letter, the ripped up and taped back together item interested him.

Pulling out the plain sheet of paper the note was short and vague to the point that it was almost insulting and had Ayamine been there easily corruptible, though he himself would have no issue with doing that either.

Shinji

Come

Gendo Ikari

Easily theorised that Shinji was most likely the person he had replaced and Gendo was that persons father it felt like a case of divorce, had the mother won custody of Shinji and was abusive? Had she ripped the letter up and Shinji painstakingly taped it together? It was a theory though felt wrong but without anything to really back it up he would go with it though cared little about the situation.

Picking up the picture he eyes goggled at the blatant pose the woman in it was pulling, the woman looked to be mid twenties maybe around the same age as Yuuko and Marimo, her long dark black/purple hair ran to about her mid back, a pale yellow tank top showing plenty of cleavage but not more than devil Marimo-chan, and the shortest pair of denim shorts that were cut higher than was reasonable.

The victory pose was capped off with an arrow pointing to the flesh valley and 'look at this' written next to it gave Takeru the impression this woman was somewhere between Ayamine and drunk Marimo-chan which set some alarm bells ringing, the second note informing Shinji he would be picked up by the woman was above a bright red lipstick mark.

'Poor woman's going to get a shock when she finds me.' Takeru smirked.

Deciding that waiting was most likely the best option he picked up the bag and moved towards a nearby bench, if nothing else the woman would head towards a train station with the lockdown assuming of course she wasn't in a shelter herself, Takeru rubbed his head, there were far too many variables to deal with, nothing was known to him much like the last world and he belatedly realised that it was one of his biggest failings over there.

It didn't take long for Takeru to realise he had made his first mistake, the loud shrill sound he recognised as jet engines and multiples of them entered his hearing range, standing up he quickly scanned the area before identifying the sound was coming from the nearby mountain ridge.

A few seconds passed before a jet based VTOL craft with UN markings began backing up, the twin thruster angular craft was followed by several more, in all almost a dozen, each one was clearly armed with gattling guns, dumb-fire rocket pods and anti tank missiles.

It was the 'pursuer' that shocked him however, a large black bipedal monster, his mind kicked in as he instinctively tried to identify the monster as a BETA but the clear towering of the thing showed it was almost 3 times larger than the briefing on the 'Fort class'.

A jet black body with white skeletal features and a large tear drop type face, a round red core that was either a weak-point or laser on its chest just below the faces point and large protruding spikes jutting from its elbow areas capped off what Takeru thought was another crime against nature.

Takeru quickly looked around, he needed to find a sturdy building or an area which was most likely behind and angled away from the monsters path, he remembered too many films from his birth world where characters wound up dead for following stupid ideas, he wasn't about to become a statistic.

Two loud whooshing sounds come from the right as Takeru noticed a pair of cruise missiles tearing down the main street, covering his ears he felt himself knocked back by the force as the high explosive weapons curved around a corner and towards the alien.

From his crumpled heap he watched the explosions knock the monster back like it had taken a punch, quickly righting himself he dusted off as the sound of heavy cannon and missile fire from the VTOLs began, Takeru's eyes widened as the 20mm shells and HE missiles didn't even dent the thing, the sound of more engines caused him to look up and see two large bomber craft he couldn't identify passing over head before releasing their ordinance.

The bombs were large, easily three times bigger than his TSF, they crumpled onto some weird hexagonal golden barrier before exploding, the shock-wave blowing glass out of half the windows out of the nearby train station.

More weapons fire reigned down as the VTOLs moved into a large fan pattern after the bombers had finished, the creature seemed to respond now as it raised one hand and its palm began to glow, Takeru wondered if it had palm lasers but was surprised almost as much as the pilot had to have been as a large spear burst through the cockpit, the same one on its elbow.

The VTOL burst into flames and crashed into the wooded area before the monster began targeting another one, the VTOL pilot this time was more on the ball and strafed his craft, it was too little too late as the blow connected with its left engine and the VTOL began a wild descent, the sound of engines straining to control and lift the craft from its doomed fate made Takeru wince.

Who ever the pilot was he was good as the vehicle made a heavy but intact landing about 200m down the street from him, looking at the flaming wreck he could see the pilot struggling to escape the wreckage of the craft, his instinct kicking in he turned to help rescue the man when two sounds from opposite ends entered his ears.

From his view he could see the creature take some form of flight its lift and speed suggested it was going to finish off the VTOL, Takeru knew instantly that the man was doomed and he himself couldn't save the man, the second sound was a smaller engine clearly a car of some kind behind him.

Turning to the newcomer he moved towards the blue Alpine that was burning rubber towards certain death, angling himself a little he could see the foot coming down on the man no more apt an image than a boot to an ant came about as Takeru crouched and rolled as the explosive blast from ignited ordinance sent a shock-wave towards him that the car partly blocked with its frame.

The passenger door opened and from the drivers seat Takeru could see the woman from the photograph though in less revealing clothing.

“Get in. Wait who are you? No never mind jump in, now.” The woman yelled a mixture of confusion, fear and determination in her voice.

Diving in he didn't get time to put his belt on before the woman shifted the stick into reverse and the sound of rubber protesting the heavy acceleration echoed around the area as the large creature seemed to smash a building sending chunks of mortar and steel raining down on the car, a deft flick into gear saw the car lurch forward as several dents to the roof appeared.

Buckling in he managed to shove the bag under his feet before looking over at the black creature that was now eyeing them, a few seconds passed before the monster began lumbering towards the car its long stride killing the distance with casual ease.

The sound of the woman clicking her tongue at being chased was followed by the window lowering, Takeru noticed a flare gun in her hand, firing it up the small green flare exploded before the window was again rolled up and the gun tossed into the back seat.

Takeru didn't need to guess the flare was a signal, though what signal was not known, the fact the creature stopped moving towards them suggested to him that something that registered as a threat had appeared, a large shadow covered the sun briefly and Takeru managed to make out a dark humanoid silhouette that was roughly equal in size to the other, a heavy tackle saw both creatures vanish behind several tall buildings and a cloud of smoke.

A few seconds later what was clearly the newcomer was slammed behind some buildings to their right again large clouds of smoke rose where the thing landed.

“Tsk, she can't handle the strain. When we get clear boy, you will tell me who the hell you are and where Shinji is.” The woman cast a brief glare at him before checking the rear view mirror, Takeru couldn't help but snort at the 'objects in mirror are closer than they seem' label that was on the glass.

Pulling out of the town the large humanoid had seemingly disappeared somewhere, causing Takeru to look around, something around 150m tall didn't just vanish unless it had a cloaking device and he wondered if the thing had such a function.

“Where did that go?” Takeru asked the woman.

“Down the elevator for retrieval.”

“And you didn't think we could use that?” Takeru shot an incredulous reply back earning a guilty look from the woman.

“It's not really suitable for a car.”

“Neither is getting stepped on.”

“Ok sorry, you want to go back?”

“No keep driving away from that thing, what is that?” Takeru continued to trade barbs with the woman, for some reason he felt he would like her.

The car turned at an intersection and began heading into the outer roads, ahead a long tunnel through a mountain came into view, looking back the creature had given up pursuit and gone back to targeting the VTOLs buzzing around it like flies.

“First off, who are you and where is Shinji?”

“My name is Shirogane Takeru, I don't know where Shinji is but I have a theory but I doubt you would believe it, if I am correct, well I don't envy him and doubt he lived long.” Takeru spoke watching the woman's reactions. “And you are?”

“Katsuragi Misato, and what do you mean by that, did you kidnap him?” Takeru notice her reaching for a gun.

“I guess it's nice to meet you Misato-san, but no, I don't think I had anything to do with Shinji's disappearance, but this isn't the first time I have found myself waking up in strange places.”

“Explain Shirogane-san.” Misato kept the gun in reach but was maintaining her eye on the road and her passenger.

“Ok long story short, I would be something akin to a parallel world jumper it would seem, my world was a peaceful one for the most part, no alien invasions or anything like that, outside of fiction anyway.” Takeru could see the confusion and scepticism on her face but she said nothing. “One day I woke up in another world, no explanation or anything, a world nearing extinction by a powerful alien foe that had been discovered in the late 50's and landed on Earth in the early 70's.”

Takeru watched as the tunnel was entered, the lines of light washing over the damaged car, a loose piece of stone bounced behind them from the roof the size of a football.

“When I went to where my school was it was now a UN base for the 11th Pacific army, after getting arrested I was given a choice, join the army or rot in a cell, I went with the former, I spent the next three years training to pilot a mobile weapon against the aliens, while denied the chance to fight for three years due to a large scale operation going on I was a squad leader for a small platoon in the base, my first sortie was also my last, I wound up here during it, assuming I swapped places with Shinji, he will find himself in the cockpit of a small mecha facing aliens surrounding him.”

“And assuming I believe you, you didn't wish to leave?” Misato asked wearily.

“No, I had found something worth dying for in that new world, I would lay down my life for it, I take it you are basing it on my appearance, how old do you think I am Misato-san?”

“I don't know, 14 or 15 I would have said.”

“I'm closer to 22, I was just shy of 18 when I joined the army.”

“What?! 22, but.” Misato briefly lost control of the car causing more debris to come loose.

Takeru smirked at the dumbfounded expression on her face, clearly she was having a similar reaction to the one he had when he had arrived in that world, a moment of sadness crossed him again as he thought of his comrades, he alone had survived, somehow.

The ride continued in silence for a while as Takeru tried to take in what he had currently seen, a giant monster almost immune to conventional weapons, though those bombs may have been something if that shield was needed, and something equally as big that was either human made or re-purposed enemy tech.

The bright light of the end of the tunnel made Takeru groan, the metaphor seemed oddly right yet wrong for him, a bright light and 'pop' he was somewhere else, though figuring out the how and why were important aspects for him, the how was something even the genius of Yuuko-Sensei couldn't work out so he knew he had no chance.

Looking in the distance the pair could see the large monster still being harassed by a clearly diminished number of VTOLs though those that remained were clearly more savvy to its attacks now. Stopping the car the woman shut the engine off and turned to Takeru a cool stare that Takeru recognised as one that had seen hell.

“So what is that?” Takeru started.

“It's called an Angel.” Misato spoke her voice becoming icy at using the word.

“That's an Angel? Fuck heaven then, hate to see what hells like either, oh wait I lived there.” He chuckled briefly.

Picking up her phone Misato began dialling a number, Takeru turned to watch the pitifully weak but respectably brave fight the UN was putting up against such an impossible creature, being UN himself he could admire his comrades in arms fighting aliens to protect humanity at the cost of their lives.

“Yeah it's me, commander we hit a snag, Shinji wasn't at the rendezvous point, no there was, Shirogane Takeru, well, I can't say, he sounds crazy, no sir I don't think so, his eyes, recommendations? Termination? No sir, I don't think I can, no sir I mean I don't think I would win, understood, I will bring him in.”

Takeru listened to the one sided conversation, he could guess the other end by the facial expressions and answers, but at least she could tell he wouldn't go down easy even if she had a gun, even with the short statue he guess he was close to her weight and easily stronger, and while hell she may have seen she seemed to lack the killer instinct and training for now.

“So the commander wants to meet you, maybe you can help with our little problem.” Misato spoke with a sigh.

“Wow hate to think what a big problem is then.” Takeru thumbed the Angel while laughing. “Ok, I need to find out what I can about this world anyway, might as well start there.” Takeru shrugged.

Turning back to the Angel Takeru noticed the VTOLs beginning to bug out, the small black dots pulling away from the creature as it continued to slowly and ominously head towards some to him unknown destination.

“Misato-san that's not good.” Takeru pointed to the evacuation.

Misato leaned over pulling a pair of binoculars from the glove box and put them to her eyes, Takeru mind quickly working out his own theory, little in the way of aerial units remained but a large radius evacuation suggested a heavy attack, a WMD, his eyes widened as did Misato's.

“Shit a Nuke/N2 mine.” They both spoke as the pair grabbed each other pulling their belted forms down.

The explosion was unlike anything Takeru had seen or felt until the end, even with his head down the bright flash lit up even the darkest parts of the car, the shock-wave that followed first pushed the car across the road before it tilted and was tossed around like a toy.

The sound of metal against tarmac and the thunderous roar of the explosion caused both occupants to cover their ears as the heat wave diminished by the distance hit, the wave feeling like entering a sauna after being outside in the snow, too warm to be comfortable but not dangerous.

With the car finally sliding to a halt Takeru found himself upside down, thanking the seatbelt he braced himself with one hand and unclipped it allowing for a controlled fall to the ceiling, the already wound down windows allowed Takeru to wriggle out without fear of shredding himself on glass and pulling himself to his feet he saw the large mushroom cloud of the WMD in the distance.

Brushing himself off again he heard Misato crumple to the floor the pained moan as she crawled out, Takeru turned to get a full look of the woman in dusty yet smart casual clothing, a one piece black suit with red jacket and a cross pendant on string.

“So I think we need to get out of here and get to a decon room quickly.” Takeru replied calmly to Misato's confused look.

“Decon?”

“Well that was a nuke right? Radiation?”

“Oh, no that was an N2 mine, non-nuclear, though the EMP was nasty still.”

Takeru nodded, seemed this world used WMDs quiet liberally against itself while his last world held back until the end, though maybe this one just had better understanding of the technology it was using and knew the effects better.

Walking over to the sandblasted and dented car he looked down at the wreck, he would say it was a write off but somehow he got the impression it was somewhat modified to be a little more durable.

“Ahhhhhhhh, my car I got repayments on it still.” Misato wailed.

Or not thought Takeru with a wry smile, gripping the nearest handhold, in this case the bottom of the window he began rocking the car, the sound of dirt crunching and metal protesting echoed around the now silent area.

“You know, those bombs could have won our war, though our units had the whole NBC package but no, those fuckers would have just shot them down, and getting them passed the swarms would mean an opening anyway.” Takeru continued to rock the car finally managing to get it on its side.

“So what were your enemy like Shirogane-san?” Misato wasn't really convinced of his story, but he seemed far calmer and competent than your average 14 year old, Rei only came to mind due to her emotionlessness and this one was anything but.

“They were called BETA, 'Beings of Extra Terrestrial origin that is Adversarial to humankind', they were discovered in the late 50' by a probe sent to Mars, by the 60's they were attacking our base on the moon, and in 73 they landed in Kashgar and began a long bloody battle across the continent, a second unit landed in Canada a year after the first and was quickly Nuked by the Americans turning parts of Canada into a wasteland, for 30 years we saw our population drop from 3.5 billion to a little over a billion.” Takeru replied straining against the tires to flip the car.

Misato took in all the information, it sounded like sci fi but she and those at NERV lived it, giant artificial robots and monsters trying to end the world was her situation, who was she to say this 'boy' wasn't from another world fighting an equally bad threat?

Stopping the struggle with the car for a moment he looked over at the cloud that was now dissipating, a large silhouette slowly broke through the thick grey smoke until it revealed the prone but intact form of the creature.

“Fuck, either that things alive still or you burned it in place, can't tell from here.” Takeru shielded his eyes as he tried to get a clearer picture.

“My god, it's still alive and regenerating.” Misato pulled her binoculars out and gasped in horror.

“Well that big guy from earlier going out again?” Takeru asked folding his arms a small smirk floating on his lips. “Because now when it’s vulnerable would be a good time.”

“Can't, our main pilot was in no real condition to fight that earlier, and our back up is MIA, we might need to use you.” Misato put down the binoculars and looked at the young man in a young boy’s body.

“Well, what would happen aside from a large numbers of deaths should this thing get to its destination?”

“The end of life on this planet.”

“You got my aid then Misato-san, you want and need a pilot you got one.” Takeru grinned earning a relieved sigh from her. “Now let’s get this thing back on four wheels and check the damage.”

With the aid of Misato, Takeru managed to get the battered blue Alpine over, the sound of the bumper warping and suspension protesting the weight put on it made Takeru wince, the car was barely holding together as it was.

“Hope you got nuke insurance, they cover that under 3rd party?” Takeru asked popping the bonnet and boot of the car as he pulled out the spread toolbox and brought it around to the front.

“You know what you're doing?” Misato asked worriedly.

“Yes, I took the advanced maintenance course back in Yokohama, had nothing better to do with myself aside from train since we weren't being deployed, I took almost every course offered, spent some time taking apart the tanks, Jeeps and IFVs to earn my certificate.”

The engine for the most part was functioning, the older car being more resistant to EMP and having less electronics, it being off had helped, a quick reconnection of the battery and reattaching the slipped drive belt saw the car start again, with some minor repairs to the bumpers and a few dents punched out of the roof the pair began their drive to their destination.

“So Misato-san, I have a few questions, what year is this and where are we going?”

“It's 2015, and we are heading for Tokyo 3, the fortress city designed to fight these monsters.”

Takeru nodded with a hmm, it sounded to him like there was something in this city that was attracting the monsters, it made sense to fortify an area and then move the enemies required or needed item there, it reduced damage to other cities or countries, still Tokyo 3 sounded bad.

“So 3? What happened to 2 and 1?”

“Tokyo was destroyed during what we call second impact, for the public it was a meteorite impact on Antarctica, Tokyo 2 is the current capital and Tokyo 3 is a fall back used under certain circumstances it was called Hakone before though.”

A conspiracy if there ever was one, it didn't sound too good and Takeru wondered what he had gotten himself into, the way Misato had said Antarctica suggested not only was it a complete lie but she had first-hand knowledge of what really happened, it would be now that he would out and out ask her, but with few bridges in this new world he wasn't about to burn one that was clearly a potential ally so soon.

Takeru turned from watching Misato to looking out the windows, a large mountain range was ahead and a crystal clear lake poking out the valley, around him a mixture of blasted plains, broken pylons and dilapidated buildings suggesting that most likely this ‘Second Impact’ had taken its toll on the planet.

“So Misato-san, what sort of damage did ‘Second Impact’ caused.” Takeru asked leaning against the window.

“Almost half our population, more after the war.” Misato replied earning an understanding nod from Takeru, 3 billion dead most likely overnight. “The weather patterns have changed too, we lost seasons.”

The ride continued in silence as another tunnel entered view, the old black tarmac roads changing to urban road as the large concrete tunnel mouth swallowed their car, the car drove until a mysterious arrow marked into the road appeared, turning into a wall it opened up and in drove the car, a hidden entrance to the base.

A large metal door appeared, a blood red logo with the word NERV and half a bay leaf, some English wording that Takeru only barely understood before the door opened and the car pulled in, the sound of clamps securing the vehicle to the lift before it began its journey to an unknown destination.

“So NERV?” Takeru began as the lift brought them out into the open, or open underground.

The cavern was enormous, hanging from the roof were several high rise or low down buildings, even from his position he could see entrances at their ‘bottoms’ suggesting rail guided defences that lowered the buildings in an attack.

Below him a lake with a war ship a destroyer by his count and near that a large black pyramid with the same logo and an inverted one off the corner of it, surround it foliage and some roads suggesting other means to enter the base over the sky lift.

“Wow, nice, a Geofront right? Almost think Yokohama base had one with its 40 basement levels.” Takeru perked up looking around.

“It was mostly filled when we found it, we had to dig this out.” Misato began before going back to his first question, pulling out a sealed document, the words ‘welcome to NERV’ and ‘Top Secret’ on it.

Popping the security seal Takeru began leafing through the introduction to NERV, the usual sunny tale of NERVs humble beginning as part of the UN while mentioning nothing about its purpose other than helping humanity which could mean anything.

Again he had no idea what he was getting into, the biggest difference here was the seeming lack of friends, though he had only met one person if he found he didn’t know or was acquainted with people on this base he would feel that he could work his own angle.

“Nothing in here about your super bot.” Takeru idly flicked through the landscape A5 booklet.

“Super bot? It’s called Evangelion Unit 01.” Misato smiled. “You won’t find that in there.”

“Won’t find a lot of things in here I guess.” Takeru muttered earning a nod and sly smile from Misato.

As the car lift stopped at the bottom of the Geofront the sound of clamps disengaging saw Misato restart the car and pull off, following the single road they drove to an underground car park, a lone soldier carrying a MP5 submachine gun and wearing a cream/yellow uniform with red beret quickly checked her ID before lifting the barrier.

The dimly lit dark grey structure looked like any other car park, several cars occupied spaces and large white stencilled numbers dictating area and level allowed people to remember where they parked, not that people really did, after parking the battered car the pair walked towards a metal blast door their footsteps echoing around the lifeless area making Takeru think it was a perfect horror/mystery setting.

As the door opened the bright industrial lights blinded Takeru briefly before a large open area of metal walls and travellators spread before him, following Misato she stepped onto one of the walkways and was quickly taken off to their destination.

“So, either the x days since last accident/death board is either really high or at 0.” Takeru spoke up causing Misato to turn around.

Seeing him wave his hands around and looking down at the bottomless expanse that wasn’t railed off made her realised what he was driving at.

“So Shirogane-san, what other skills do you have?” Misato asked turning back around and looking at her map.

“CQC, melee with knives and swords, firearm training with pistols, PDW, SMG, assault rifles, LMG, sniper rifles and vehicle mounted weapons, first aid, tactical command skills for units from fire teams up to company levels, high death rates meant we needed higher training that is usual and engineering training.” Takeru found himself standing to attention as he listed his skills, though not the full list.

Misato swallowed nervously, the boy and she used the term in the loosest way was far more dangerous and competent than initially thought, they were in a base with state of the art facilities and testing his claims wouldn’t be hard and some would need to be tested soon, either he was a supreme liar or they had stumbled onto the Japanese Rambo.

Over 10 minutes later Takeru noticed they had passed the same stencilled floor marker earning an annoyed look at the woman that was rubbing her head and turning the map every direction. Stepping past her on the belt he turned to face her, a mixture of embarrassment and shock on her face at the steely look on his face.

“Map.” He stated. “End location.”

“Uh, Command centre.” Misato squeaked turning a faint shade of pink as she handed over the map.

Takeru looked at the harrowing maze of lines and symbols on the map and cast a sympathetic gaze at the woman, the damn layout was clearly set out to make hostile takeover harder, the few corridors he had been through had the same nozzles built into the walls to flood areas with an unknown fluid, most likely a quick setting compound.

Thanking Mikoto with her help in map reading and orienteering as the squad’s survival expert he quickly figured out their location, they were several floors off the right track and required the use of at least one elevator, two if the numbers spoke of stoppable floors.

Stepping into a corridor rather than following the travellator he walked to the lift and no sooner had he pressed the call button did the door open and they stepped in, and made for another level, heading along a new walkway Takeru noticed the first signs of life outside of the guard earlier, a blond woman in a blue suit and white lab coat on the adjacent platform heading in the other direction.

“Wait there.” She pointed at the pair her voice echoing around the cavernous space.

“Uh, hi Ritsuko.” Misato half smiled replying nervously.

“That the welcome wagon?” Takeru asked pointing his thumb at the hastily disappearing woman before smirking. “Or the search party?”

A moment passed before an angry blonde marched up to the pair, a steely glare of self-importance on her face made Takeru raise an eyebrow her attempt at intimidation lacked the power that Yuuko’s had in either world.

“This our new ‘guest’?” The woman known as Ritsuko asked not addressing him at all. “What were you thinking Misato?”

“Well I don’t claim to be a mind reader, but my guess is, ‘need to get Shinji, who the fuck is this? Shit a monsters about to kill us need to rescue him, MY CAR’.” Takeru finished in a high voice. “Or something like that.”

Misato blushed at the reasonably accurate line of thought while Ritsuko levelled a glare at him that could curdle milk but Takeru pointing held his own gaze at her, a few moments passed before she looked away her annoyance evident.

“We don’t have time for this every moment we delay, the enemy comes closer.” Ritsuko spoke brusquely.

“Ok, less moaning more walking, the Command centre right?” Takeru shot back already feeling his dislike of the woman.

“No, we are heading for the cage.” Without another word she stepped inside a lift and when the pair entered it descended into the bowels of the base.

Whoever had designed the base was an idiot, either they had pulled someone off the street or gotten Pablo Picasso to try his hand at architecture, after getting off in the pits of hell Takeru found himself staring at a boat on a large body of water.

Takeru had had little to do with boats, the rare training in the harbour using a TSF mothership and his submersible entry onto ‘Snake Island’ were the sum total experience he had, but still he was a fighter and would roll with the situation.

Stepping to the front of the boat with nary a wobble he braced himself as the women climbed on, the tilting and rocking mixed with a lapping sound felt like his time in the simulators a place he found himself trying not to fall asleep in often, looking at the water the red/orange colour looked like heavily diluted blood and the faint smell only reinforced that.

The spluttering of the small outboard motor and jerk of the craft as it went into motion made Takeru instinctively kick into military gear, while little trained in storming action he felt his hands grip an imaginary rifle before he shook himself off the notion, the UN had really done a number on him, his friends in his birth world wouldn’t recognise him less so with his younger appearance.

The wall on the other side of the lake loomed into view, a large purple and green arm locked in place wasn’t hard to spot and Takeru got his first real look at the huge unit from earlier, while the TSFs always impressed him standing below the monsters he felt himself salivate slightly as his repressed but still present giant robot fanboyism began to rear its head.

“This still isn’t a good idea Misato.” Takeru heard barely above the roar of the engine.

“The Commander made the call, any chance is better than no chance.” Misato replied. “Besides I doubt we could do anything to him either way.”

Arriving at the jetty Takeru hopped off grabbing both mooring ropes and securing the boat allowing the pair to come ashore, the darker area making it hard to see the stairs and door in the shadow of the giant wall and arm.

The loud hum of the hydraulic door opening allowed the trio to enter, the brief light filtering into the new room showed Takeru a bridge over more of the mysterious blood water and as the three reached the centre the door closed enveloping the room in total darkness.

“Misato-san, please get your hand off my ass.” Takeru deadpanned.

“It’s not me.” Whined Misato.

“You then Ritsuko-chan?”

“How dare you suggest I would do that.” A cool voice spoke from his right.

The powerful room lights turned on with the sound of someone pulling a large switch, standing before him the shoulders and head of the Evangelion Unit 01, on closer inspection Takeru couldn’t help but think it was Meiya’s Takemikazuchi’s bigger brother, and damn the thing would be useful in his world.

The realisation that he had referred to the last world as his only cemented how he had integrated himself into it, the 207 his friends, not parallel versions of his birth world friends, but his friends and comrades, those he had found that were worth dying for and now was no longer near.

“Nice presentation, got the whole flare for dramatics going here.”

“So you are Shirogane?” A firm voice spoke from above them.

Craning his neck Takeru noticed a bearded man with glasses staring down at him, the red top under black jacket and trousers and stance that screamed leader to Takeru caused a smile to creep on his face, one of the higher ups or the Commander himself.

“I am, and you are?”

“Commander Gendo Ikari.” Gendo spoke without emotion. “Now what have you done with my son?”

“Well Commander I have never seen your son or have knowingly done anything that would threaten him, I had not expected to find myself here.” Takeru replied shrugging.

“We are at a critical juncture here Shirogane, I was expecting my son to pilot the weapon you see in front of you to fight humanities enemy, however the situation has clearly changed, you are here on my sufferance.”

“No, I am here because you have no options, your other pilot I am told is too injured and from what I saw even at their best I doubt they could beat that Angel no matter what you say, I am here because you need me more than I need you.” Takeru smirked folding his arms, his first test against the Commander.

Misato gasped and went to interject but a quick level gaze from Takeru told her he was playing an angle of some sort, maybe a test of character to the person who may become his superior, it was bold and risky, but her own dislike of the man made her refrain from continuing to comment.

“Oh? Should the Angel above reach us humanity as a whole will die, your life too Shirogane.” Gendo maintained his composure a silent battle of wills amongst a battle of words, it was rare to find people that would face him down.

“My life is irrelevant Commander, I should be dead now so the world ending makes no difference to me, I got nothing to lose, the choice here is what you can offer me, sell it to me Commander.” Takeru continued to focus on the man above him allowing only the faintest hint of amusement to play on his face.

“Really now? What I can offer? What about what you can offer Shirogane?” Gendo continued as he watched the monitor, the Angel was nearing the final line, in a few minutes it would be in Tokyo 3.

“Well while not knowing much about this unit, I have elite skills in other bipedal units, and a good sense of battle, but what can you offer the one that holds the fate of this world on his shoulders?”

Gendo smirked slightly, the plan had to go ahead, for the first time since joining SEELE he felt himself cornered though the person had done so unknowingly, it would have been easy to manipulate his son into fighting but this person was an unknown variable, a few concessions wouldn't hurt and keeping someone like him around could be far more beneficial if his skills matched his claims.

“Very well Shirogane, should you accept I will arrange employment here with good pay and other bonuses.” Gendo allowed as the sound of rumbling from above told them the enemy was attacking somehow.

“Seems the barbarians are at the gate Commander, we will fine tune my contract after I deal with this issue, but I need some details on the system I am using, a basic course naturally, I don't think we have time for in-depth yet.”

“Very well, Dr Akagi, please see to it that Shirogane is up to speed on Unit 01, and prep the plug for a new pilot designation 4th child.” With those words Gendo turned and walked away from the glass the angle allowing him to notice the small lift that sent him to what was most likely the command centre.

The blonde, Dr Akagi walked over to him pulling out a small booklet that had clearly been meant for Shinji and handed it to him, a cold wintry gaze from her at him, most likely for that stunt he had pulled, Takeru felt like this woman would be quite antagonistic to him were he not to reign in his own ego, again his mind telling him bridges needed to be maintained not burned so early, the reading of the Commander told him that one was intact for now and his own conditions would depend on his performance soon, assuming he and they lived through it.

The pair walked in silence around a series of interlinking walkways and ladders, the OS of the Evangelion seemed to be a feedback based mental link similar to the TSF one, the EVA would adopt the stances and styles of the pilot, looking up from his book as he had occasionally to prevent a nose dive into the water below he saw Dr Akagi holding out a head band with two small blue bulbs on the ends.

Taking the device he attached it to his head, the neural link ready, arriving at their destination he saw the long white 'entry plug' a simple tag of 01 on it in red and a simple hatch to allow entry, the inside set into a gyroscopic stabiliser.

The pilots seat itself was a long device on rails, a gel/foam seat much like his TSF one and leg canals to keep his legs secure, a pair of hand grips and behind the seat a large snail like device. Sitting in the seat he spent a short minute adjusting it to his size, gripping the joysticks he moved them getting a feel of the motions they could do, finding they could detach partly suggesting alternative functions.

“Ok Shirogane-kun, we will lock the plug in place then flood the insides with LCL, it's basically liquid oxygen that acts as a transmitter and additional barrier against knocks.” Akagi spoke curtly earning a nod from Takeru.

The plugs hatch closed and locked, the hiss of a seal in place and the odd feeling of forward motion made Takeru wish for his fortified suit, the possible G-forces he could face in this thing made him worry a little but maybe this LCL would compensate for that, he was glad however that he had no electronics on him when things got wet.

'Flooding plug now.' Came a female voice over the comms.

Takeru watched as the same orange coloured liquid began filling the pod, running down the sides like a filmy liquid and pooling at the base, the narrow confines quickly allowed the liquid to rise to his feet and the feeling of damp socks was an unpleasant one reminding Takeru of the C.C.S.E again and how his feet had inflated from sweat and rain over the 6 days in the jungle.

Takeru tried to empty his lungs of air before the liquid covered his face, the feeling of of slightly syrupy water entering his nostrils and entering his mouth via the nose was again uncomfortable and made him want to sneeze, forcing himself to breath in the liquid filled his lungs causing a combination cough/sneeze.

'Ionizing LCL.' The voice again spoke most likely from the command centre.

The barely transparent liquid quickly turned a clearer colour with this, if it wasn't for the knowledge he was still in it he would think the plug was dry, popping his shoulders as the activation sequence began he could only hope the length was due to the new calibrations and not something that would happen each time, this wasn't one of his old RPGs you couldn't put off the main quest to level grind.

'Establishing A-10 nerve connections.' With this comment a momentary feeling of being embraced in his soul before a recoil from the being, the feeling of hesitation came from the entity before it closed in again and he blacked out.

 

**Unknown Location**

The sea of whiteness that confronted Takeru was harsh after the blackness that had been caused by the connection, the location seemed to have no directions, his ingrained Eishi training telling him down was wherever he wanted it to be, the uniformity of the white was both blinding and not.

Settling himself onto an axis he looked around, not one landmark could be seen, just emptiness, the possibility of being in his mindscape was there, maybe some kind of sci fi reverse polarity thing, he could almost hear Sumika going on about his empty head and this certainly being his mind, the retort of it being hers was on his lips before he sensed a presence behind him.

Turning around he could see nothing there but the feeling of a person just out of arms reach was there, like a 2d object in 3d space he could feel that if he were at the right angle he could see the entity but knowing it would still be out of sight.

“Who are you?” Takeru called out, he wasn't sure if he would get a reply or even if he were talking to himself but as long as 'he' didn't answer he wasn't crazy.

“I am the soul of Eva, you are not the one I expected.” A soft female voice replied.

The voice came from everywhere, even when trying to filter the echoes and distortion from the sound he could feel the voice was in front of him but at the same time it wasn't, like it surrounded him.

“Did you expect Shinji?” Takeru decided to ask the obvious question.

“Yes, where is Shinji?” The voice asked this time worry entered her tone.

“I don't honestly know, my knowledge of my own situation is limited, had something like this happened last time then I may have switched places with another person, if so Shinji is in the world I lived in before my appearance here, his fate is unlikely to be good.”

For a moment there was silence and Takeru was sure the whiteness took on several darker shades and became a faint grey, the nervousness he was feeling was something he hadn't felt outside of the sortie before this had happened though he had repressed that on principal for the squad, his training and instinct telling him he was in danger.

“How so?” The voice now had an edge to it.

“My world, well the one I was living in before coming here was facing extinction from a powerful and numerous alien foe, two continents had fallen and we were being pushed back on all fronts, less than a billion lived when we activated our end game, my last memories in that world are the bombs falling and the aliens in the distance coming from the Sadogashima hive, if Shinji switched with me he will be almost alone and facing tens of thousands of aliens that kill without regard for life.”

For a moment the colour darkened again it was now clearly dimmer than before, a hue of grey mixed with the almost heavenly white like a corruption or someone adding drops of black into a paint and mixing it to hide the accident.

The feeling on pain in his mind made Takeru grab his head like it was splitting open, memories of his time in that world flooded him, his first time in a simulator pod and falling asleep, the HSST incident, Mt Tengen and the Christmas party.

The pain vanished as quickly as it came and Takeru no longer felt like his brain would pour out his nose, the relief was short lived before the voice spoke again, though the whiteness had returned to the world.

“Your life is a lie Shirogane-kun, but it is not either, such a fascinating existence.” The soft voice almost sounded excited? “But I do not think Shinji faces the fate you think, a twist in the fabric of reality, but the danger is the same as you faced.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your lamentation about your fate at the end, your desire to survive and fight for a doomed planet, one without hope, Shirogane-kun can you help prevent my father, and my husband’s plans here?”

“I don’t even know either of them.” Takeru replied confused though he felt several pieces of a puzzle fall onto his lap, though he still didn’t know the picture.

“Yes, that is true, forgive me for not saying sooner, I am the soul of the Evangelion but my name is Yui Ikari, I am Shinji’s mother and Gendo’s wife.” The soft wistful voice replied, he could almost see a sad smile playing on her lips even without a physical presence to see.

“Well that destroys my theory, uh nice to meet you Ikari-san.” Takeru bowed slightly. “So who is your father and what plans?”

“My father is a member of a secret cabal known as SEELE, they wish to ascend to godhood, my husband has other plans, ones I am not privy too, but have my own theories, but I will refrain from voicing such subjective notions.” Yui replied slightly bitterly, a brief flash of light brought forth an image of a young twenty something woman with short brown hair that rounded and framed her face and a kind pair of eyes.

“So you want me to stop them from ending this world?” Takeru asked the feeling of anger building.

“Yes, I don’t think I need to ask knowing your head, but I will voice it anyway, Shirogane, no Takeru, will you use your power to let people find their own path, to defend this world from it’s enemies?”

“I will Ikari-san.” Takeru nodded firmly, his anger, guilt and resentment at not being able to do much for his last world filled him, but a chance to do something substantial here was in front of him, he would face it with everything he had.

“Then please call me Yui, Takeru, we will be as one when fighting.” Yui giggled as Takeru blushed slightly. “Now let’s get you back to the physical world.”

 

**Eva Plug**

Takeru opened his eyes to find himself staring at the inside of the cockpit, his internal clock telling him not even a second had passed in the real world, the feeling of being embraced again in a warm comforting presence as a shower of bright colours filled the plug before a view of outside surrounded him.

‘Sync ratios, wait this can’t be right, holding steady at 83%. We are good to go.’ The command post operator continued the checks.

He noticed that at some point during the activation the body of liquid had been drained from the room, the locking walls and bridge were retracted and the unit began a slow move backwards on its track.

“Ok Takeru, the enemy is designated 3rd Angel, objective is its destruction.” Misato spoke over the channel.

Takeru made a brief note of 3rd, finding out the fates of the first two was something on his to do list for later, the term destruction ringing in his mind like the radar question he had looked up during his training, and it was an ambiguous term that he could use.

“Misato-san, I need load out knowledge and Intel on the area, including other units operating, friendly, enemy and civilian.” Takeru spoke as the unit stopped and locked in place.

“No friendly, enemy or civilians are operating aside the main target, we have some defences that can be used but will do little to them, load out includes Prog knives in the shoulder holsters, we got a pallet gun ready too but it is currently near the enemy.” Misato replied hesitantly not expecting such questions.

“Understood, collateral damage?”

“Try to keep it low, but what is up there is combat buildings mostly.” Misato replied again. “Are we really doing this?” Misato seemed to ask someone else.

“Well, I am in here now, seems a waste to stop this far in.”

“Very well, Eva launch.”

The feeling of rapid acceleration as his unit was catapulted up towards the theatre of war was dampened slightly by the liquids, his mind quickly filed away its thoughts as he brought forth all his training and skills to the front, the enemy was an unknown to him, its capabilities semi known, he would need to be both cautious and aggressive at the same time.

The Unit slammed home as the railed guided unit reached the surface, the bumpers expanding and resulting shock wave blew out every window around them, the floor locked in place, with the release of the locking harnesses the unit dropped the few meters to the ground with a large thud, the freed unit slumping forward like a feral predator.

“Damn this things heavy.” Takeru felt almost the full weight of the unit now it was free of the harness.

‘ _The higher the sync the more we are one.’_ Yui’s voice spoke in his mind.

‘Sounds sexy.’ Takeru thought earning a small giggle from the woman.

‘I haven’t been flirted with for a long time Takeru, I still miss life.’

‘Well when I get time I will come visit.’

Bringing himself out of the conversation he quickly appraised the situation, the city spreading before him in the night, only street lights, the moon and several raging fires from the Angel caused destruction lit the area in a mixture of yellows, reds and white.

In the distance but facing him, the enemy, while he had not felt too much fear seeing it on foot, seeing it from eye level no longer made him feel it was a threat, shaking off the notion such arrogance would get him killed.

“Just focus on walking for now Shirogane.” Ritsuko spoke through the comms.

“Really? A tutorial now?” Takeru asked looking at the shadowy creature. “What capabilities does this thing have, wait it has two faces now?”

“Aside from close range spears in its arms, it has a long range direct energy attack.” Misato interjected.

“A laser? What about that weird shield from earlier?”

“What shield?” Ritsuko questioned.

“The one that blocked the big bombs from the bombers earlier.”

“An A-T field, Shirogane you need to deploy yours too.” Ritsuko’s voice took a fearful edge.

Takeru felt something stir inside as his connection to Yui intensified and the air surrounding the Eva visibly shimmered like a heat mirage before clearing, the deployment of a powerful barrier that would both protect himself and nullify the enemies one.

With a though to move the behemoth took a firm step forward, the giant trainer type foot slammed down pulverising the tarmac beneath its feet, the sound of cheering from inside the command centre made it feel like parents seeing a baby take its first steps and in some way it was.

The second step was the same, for a brief moment Takeru wondered if this was what the monsters in Kaiju movies felt like in Tokyo before shelving that too, noticing a trailing lead behind him and the HUD informing him the unit was under external power.

A quick glance showed the unit had a fully charged battery for 5 minutes, a poor backup but if only used to find a new power outlet it would suffice, bringing up the map he quickly overlaid it with a legend of points of interest, markings of melee weapons, the sole pallet gun, emergency lifts and extra power plugs showed Takeru he had many options for the fight.

“This is Unit 01 engaging enemy.” Takeru spoke before his unit broke into a run.

The thunderous sound of the heavy mecha charging down the street resulting in more windows breaking as he quickly closed the gap with his foe, the enemy seeing the suicide charge reacted, its eyes glowed as it fired its beam weapon, Takeru dived down a street causing the attack to miss, the sound of an explosion and several buildings being reduced to rubble in the otherwise silent city.

“Fuck, that thing got power.” Takeru muttered charging out from his spot and removing the distance, the impact on the enemies shield briefly pushed Eva unit 01 away before Takeru regained his balance and threw a punch at the defence.

The solid attack shattered the A-T field like glass causing the monster to roar in alarm, raising both hands it attacked with its spears, the one dodged without effort the second caught but slowly burning into his hand. Head butting the Angel the sharp horn on unit 01’s head cutting deep into the torso of the monster and a second run with his knee into its torso sending the creature sailing back into a building.

“Damn you fight dirty Shirogane.” Misato’s voice broke through the comms.

“I’m a soldier not a kid, killing this is all that matters.” Takeru growled as he drew both knives.

Takeru dug the knife through the Angels left arm and into the road itself, grabbing the face of the creature he pulled digging the unit’s fingers into the eye sockets while battling the free right arm with his knife, the super-heated plasma blade glancing of a skilled knife block.

Using his knees again Takeru caused the unit to glance a blow off the red core cutting a chunk out of it with the knee guard and eliciting a pained and fearful howl from below him, releasing its warped head he tossed the knife towards his right hand, the deft catch saw a fluid motion of the knife firmly stabbed into the core of the Angel, the howl rose several octaves as it thrashed about knowing its defeat was at hand.

Burying the knife a second time into the core he left it embedded, the creatures eyes glowed as its form morphed seeing it attempt to enclose him Takeru threw the heaviest punch he could into the knives hilt the sound of the core shattering echoed before the Angel dissolved into a black ichor washing the vehicles around the area away.

‘Target is silent, the Angel has been defeated.’ A shaky voice spoke through the channel.

“Unit 01 leaving the field.” With that Unit 01 rose from its kneeling position and turned towards the lift, the sound of the thick liquid washing around the area sounding like waves on a beach, the return to the lift saw the liquid drain into the chamber.

The descent was silent and Takeru felt the unit locked back into the cage, the sound of the LCL draining making a gurgling sound from the drainage holes before he vomited up the liquid the feeling of his throat and chest burning from the sensation.

Stepping out of the plug he found himself facing Misato, holding out a towel the woman’s face was a mixture of wariness and joy, lightly drying his hair he began patting down his clothing, around the cage engineers in orange jumpsuits whistled and cheered as he was led towards a changing room to clean and dry himself properly.

Despite the shower and clean set of clothing from Shinji’s bag he could still smell the LCL in his hair, walking out the room he found Misato still standing waiting for him, without a word she turned and led him towards the Commanders office, the atmosphere along the way heavy as neither knew what to say.

Entering the office two things came to Takeru’s mind, the first was the sheer size of the room, the PX back in Yokohama was a similar size and that housed almost 100 soldiers at a time, the second was the colour, each of the three windows that were in place of walls cast a hazy red glow, a mixture of sunset and apocalypse red giving Takeru a chill he thought he was passed.

As he made the trek to the sole desk in the office he noticed the strange diagrams on the floor and ceiling, his mind telling him he had seen such drawings before but not placing them, waiting behind the desk was Commander Gendo and an older man with combed back grey hair and a firm posture.

“So I guess we should thank you Shirogane.” Gendo began as Takeru and Misato stopped near the desk, the lack of chairs for guests suggested Gendo liked to keep his guests uncomfortable and short in visiting times, for a soldier like Takeru such an issue wouldn’t bother him.

“True, but let’s cut to the heart of the matter, my terms.” Takeru watched the man for any indication of what Yui had mentioned earlier.

“And what are your terms?” Gendo smirked behind his hands something Takeru noticed.

“Simple, Rank, this place had a military structure, I want a command rank that has some pull a Captain’s rank along with all rights and responsibilities that come with it, I want pay to match the rank along with expenses covered and hazard pay when fighting Angels.” Takeru listed off on his fingers maintaining eye contact with the man. “I need a place to live too, an apartment, some place nice, fully furnished and before I forget I need a licence to carry a concealed firearm, I spent so much time with one on my hip I feel naked without one now and I am to presume you have enemies that want to stop you from stopping the angels.”

“Not much then.” The second man spoke with thinly veiled amusement.

“I can accept three of those, but I have a counter offer to go with them, this is non-negotiable.” Gendo spoke after a moments silence earning a nod from Takeru. “The rank Is acceptable, you will work as Lt Colonel Katsuragi’s second, the pay too, I wouldn’t want my pilots in rags, I can agree with the firearm, there are some that would harm our assets, but I want someone to keep an eye on you, for both security reasons, yours and ours, the stipulation is that you attend the local middle school.”

Takeru went silent for a while, the conditions were fine but he too needed to not look desperate, the school point was both something Takeru needed and something that told him was important for other reasons, again another piece of the bigger picture had been given to him for later, and bunking with someone else, he had never done that outside of his rare sharing of a bed with Meiya in his birth world and time he spent with his lover during his training.

“Very well Commander, I accept your generous terms and you have yourself an Eishi, uh pilot, but I have one question, who am I rooming with?”

“You will be sharing an apartment with Katsuragi here.” Gendo spoke earning a heavy inhaling from Misato as she prepared to protest, a look from Gendo killed any objection before it could start and made Takeru wonder what sort of Lt Colonel would lose their cool so easily.

“Very well, is there anything else Sir?”

“There will be, but tomorrow. Dismissed.” Gendo ended the conversation earning a firm salute from Takeru.

After the pair left Fuyutsuki handed a sealed folder to Gendo, the man looked over the picture and information held within a mixture of shock that was almost never seen on the usually stoic Commanders face.

“Is this correct?”

“Yes sir.”

“1983? He was 17 during second impact and should be 32 now, are we sure he is the same person?”

“A full check up tomorrow should clear doubt, but the image is a match and the gall of someone to claim to be a deceased teen seems unlikely.”

“So, a new pilot, get a search out for Shinji a secondary backup in case we need to terminate this one.”

“Understood.”

 

**Hallway**

As Takeru walked with Misato fuming and marching ahead a wry grin on his face at the sight of his CO stomping towards a lift, the chime signalling arrival saw a blue haired girl in a wheelchair with a doctor pushing her, a pole with several bags of IV solutions swaying slightly with the movement.

For a brief moment Takeru thought it was Yui but her blue hair, albino skin and red eyes though he guessed that with one eye bandaged over didn’t match the older brunette, stopping the pair looked at each other a moment of silence between the pair.

“The other pilot correct?” Takeru asked.

Another moment of silence before she replied. “Yes.”

“I see, well blue, you were reckless unless your current condition was from the battle at which case, you sucked.” Takeru appraised the young girl harshly. “Still if it's the former I can work with that, if it's the latter I can fix that.”

“Shirogane-san, I told you earlier that Rei here was injured, it was an activation test that failed.”

“So you sent out a failed pilot, what sort of cowboy operation are you lot running?” Takeru turned to Misato who huffed again at the retort before turning back to Rei. “And you, I take it unless you are being removed from service will be working with me in defence of the world?”

Takeru wasn't sure what to make of that, had the injuries been from a battle then he could just go with that, but finding out she had failed a test made him wary, though he realised he too had almost failed assuming the issue with Yui was normal, still how had she piloted it with a fail, or did the organisation have several of these EVAs?

Rei nodded slightly in pain as she stared at the boy that radiated a similar but even harder aura than the Commander did.

“Then, you will be taking orders from me, unless it comes from the Commander, I assume the old guy was the second or Misato, my orders override any others, understand?” Takeru asked earning another pained nod. “Then heal fast blue, we got to get you ready for a war.”

With that Rei was wheeled away by the bewildered doctor towards the Commanders office as Takeru without another word entered the held open lift. Misato quickly followed continuing to cast mixed glazes at the soldier.

“That was harsh, very harsh.” Misato began. “You should be careful with her.”

“Harsh is sending teenagers and pre-teens into a war because we have no choice, this world is for the most part at peace and ignorant of this war, the current generation will grow up normal in this world you don’t know harsh Misato-san.” Takeru countered and felt a stinging slap to his face.

“How dare you, I was there during second impact, I saw hell first hand, I.” Misato cut off her face a mix of fury and anguish.

“Excellent, then you see where I am coming from, those of us that have to fight need to be ready, war is no place for children and the innocent, and I apologise for my remark, my ignorance is inexcusable but holding a grudge is idiotic too.” Takeru smirked rubbing his cheek. “Nice hit by the way, but nothing I can’t take.”

Misato said nothing, the boy was an anomaly switching between easy going and stern and professional, he seemed to have a drive even few adults possessed, as the lift continued down to the bottom before the next transfer she wondered what was in store for their co-habitation.

The arrival at the plush apartment was uneventful and the well maintained exterior showed a high class place with a most likely expensive monthly rent, following Misato she unlocked the door before turning to Takeru a gaze of suspicion clearly evident on her face.

“Well this is your new home, I guess, I just moved in myself.”

Stepping passed the threshold he removed his shoes. “Well, I'm home?” Takeru replied in a questioning tone.

“Mmm, welcome home.” Misato replied somewhat sourly.

Entering the kitchen a pile of black bags, empty beer cans and other miscellaneous junk littered the kitchen, checking the inside of a bag with a brief glance could see normal household waste over packaging material that would have explained the build up.

“So, work fast on making this place unhygienic, well done.” Takeru snarked earning a glare from Misato.

“Well I doubt your place was cleaner.” Misato retorted.

“I had maids in my birth world and military inspections in my last one, cleanliness was required.”

“Maids?”

“Yeah, an old friend from my childhood was an heiress to a powerful Zaibatsu and decided to move in with me, I got a ninja maid and three idiot maids, though I did clean anyway.” Takeru folded his arms smirking before a yawn appeared, checking the kitchen clock he could see it was reaching midnight. “Well, it's late and I am exhausted from the whole situation, where am I sleeping?”

“Room on your left end one, I think I will sleep too, goodnight Shirogane-san.”

“Goodnight Misato-san.”

With the pair retiring for the night, Takeru entered the room to find an unmade bed, quickly pulling out a clean sheet and covers he rapidly made it and stripped down, not a few seconds after hitting the pillow did blackness assail him and he was in a deep sleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And the first real chapter over, Takeru has his mission and will be looking for allies including any surviving members of his class/207, will it work? Who knows, next chapter will be the warm up, introducing Rei and the bridge crews along with some school scenes before Toji gets involved.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Some people claimed the last version was rushed, to a degree I agree, some back story in the prologue here, we as far as I know didn't get to see this mission in any of the expanded universe only it killed the squad (mostly), so a vanilla type with Meiya as the LI, though he wont be as hung up over her death considering what he was like at the end of Unlimited.


End file.
